(1) Field of Invention
The present invention relates to cluster bombs and more specifically to a bomb assembly, comprising a cylindrical casing adapted to contain a cargo of munitions and a safer and simpler system for the ejection and dispersal of these munitions from the cluster bomb.
(2) Description of Related Art
Clustered bombs have been used extensively in trying to increase the effectiveness of air dropped munitions. These have been used since prior to World War II and basically involved the combination of a number of smaller bombs held together by some frangible or breakable link. These could be dropped together and would separate at the time of drop or during the descent so that they would have separated in distance from each other in the air and retain the capability, individually to damage or destroy the targets which they hit or which were in their area. U.S. Pat. No. 2,604,043 shows an example of such clustered bombs and the manner in which they were held together and subsequently were permitted to separate.
Parachutes have been used for retarding bombs and have been used to initiate the drop of repeated single parachute bombs, wherein a detent mechanism accomplishes that release as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,317,256.
Similarly large canisters were rear ejected from a main, still larger container by the release of a parachute, pulling out one canister which is hooked to a static line to the next parachute, pulling this out, to further pull out the next canister, and so on. This is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,443.
In still another patent, bomb clusters have been opened during the deployment of a parachute where the downward fall of the cluster opening permitted some dispersion of the small numbers of bombs in the cluster as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,874,639.
All of the above involved bomb clusters which were in free fall and which opened after that downward free fall and gave some dispersion to the few bombs of the cluster.
In time, it became apparent that it would be more advantageous to further reduce the size of these smaller bombs since computations, dating back to Leonardo DaVinci showed that anti-personnel effectiveness could be greatly improved by accomplishing this. Studies after World War II had shown that relatively small bombs, considerably smaller than those used in clustered bombs, could destroy tanks, armored vehicles, trucks and similar military vehicles. It soon became apparent that it was difficult and costly to place such larger numbers of much smaller bombs in clusters and reliably and safely hold them together for aircraft drop. This led to the placement of such clustered smaller bombs within the confines of a larger bomb, acting as a container for the smaller bombs, where, after drop from the aircraft, the bomb would open and somehow disperse the cargo of the contained smaller bombs over a target area. An example of this is U.S. Pat. No. 2,809,583.
The initial and continuing problem in trying to accomplish the ejection and dispersion of the cargo of such larger bombs has been the means of accomplishing this objective. Actually, two types of clustered dispensing systems came into being. One is commonly known in the U.S. as Slung Under Unit Dispensers or SUU Dispensers. These are hung under aircraft and directly used to dispense a cargo of munitions, through RAM air or propellants with the dispenser container retained on the aircraft. The United States Air Force has been using such SUU dispensers extensively. Here smaller bombs or other munitions are dispensed usually out of the rear end of SUU dispensers as a result of forces applied against the cargo to cause it to eject rearward. Thus Ram air was used frequently to eject the cargo of munitions as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,308,719.
In a related application, such dispensers were replaced by a nest of rocket launcher tubes that may cluster a larger number of rocket launchers to propel or project rockets in the forward direction at the target. The 2.75 inch rocket launcher system used on aircraft is the best of such examples. See also U.S. Pat. No. 3,269,268.
The United States Navy was of the opinion that the aircraft dispensing of munitions, requiring a flight over the target would result in excessive losses to enemy air defenses. The Navy consequently developed an alternate form of dispensing clustered munitions, which would not require a flight over the target. Instead of leaving the dispenser on the aircraft during the dispensing of the munition, the dispenser itself was dropped from the aircraft and designed in a missile configuration, so as to fly toward the target, while the aircraft would turn so as to permit the aircraft to be out of gun reach of the defending gun positions. In one tactical use, this dispenser, which is now known as a cluster bomb, would be dropped from great altitudes at long distances from the target where the aircraft was out of reach of most air defense weapons. The forward velocity of the aircraft would to a large extent be retained by the aerodynamically shaped cluster bomb and would permit it to fly a long distance in the direction of the target before the cargo of munitions would be dispensed from that bomb to cover all or part of the target area.
In a second tactical use the aircraft would be flying at a low altitude. As it approached the target area, it would fly upward and release the cluster bomb on the "up-leg" of flight. This upward angle of flight of the cluster bomb would cause it to fly in a mortar shaped flight configuration. The cluster bomb, which is in effect a missile would fly a considerable distance toward the target area, to discharge the cargo of submunitions over the target area. The aircraft would turn and not be required to fly over the target area.
A major problem in the design of a cluster bomb as described above involved the complexity and resulting cost, as well the safety of such bombs. A cluster bomb had to be fuzed such that the dispensing of smaller bombs, mines or grenades could be conducted efficiently and reliably. Consequently, various designs of the cluster bomb were produced to properly contain and be able to discharge the cargo of munitions. These designs used a number of basic techniques, including combinations of such techniques to eject and disperse the cargo of munitions. This required the packing of the munitions such that they could be dispersed from the cluster bomb without damage. It further was a desire to pack the maximum cargo of munitions within the cluster bomb. As a result of these objectives a number of cluster bomb designs were produced and patented. Some initial designs used a simple unthreading means of the clamping means provided by a turbine to open the cluster and release the cargo. (U.S. Pat. No. 2,450,910). This was unsatisfactory since the timing of release became important. Consequently new designs were made which, could be used with time fuzes and which at a preset time of the fuze, would cause the ejection and discharge of the cargo.
A large number of ways of opening up of the cluster bomb to disperse the cargo of munitions were devised. Gas pressure was used to break open a frangible jacket (U.S. Pat. No. 2,802,396). The skin was removed by explosives in the form of linear shaped charges (U.S. Pat. No. 2,996,985). This is used in the U.S. Rockeye II Cluster Bomb. The casing of the bomb was destroyed by pyrotechnic material (U.S. Pat. No. 3,016,011). Hot gas was used in a piston ejection system (U.S. Pat. No. 3,295,444). In related clustered rocket pods used on aircraft these used propellant projection of the individual rockets (The 2.75 inch rocket system which was under a U.S. Project Manager is an example of such a clustered weapon system). Bomblets have been dispersed through the ogive of such rockets (U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,488). Submissiled air to surface warheads, which closely resemble cluster bombs used a propellant diaphragm deployment mechanism for dispersing the cargo of munitions (U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,034). Gas generating foam was placed between the munitions, to disperse the same on ignition (U.S. Pat. No. 4,063,508). High speed spin as a result of propellant burning was another means of dispersing the cargo of munitions (U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,489). Ejection of subunits containing a cargo of munitions from a guided missile was still another dispensing technique (U.S. Pat. No. 4,498,393). In the case of munitions having a circular cross section a sudden change of acceleration or deceleration produced by propellants is used to eject the cargo sideways from a plurality of receptacles arranged such as to induce spin (U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,971).
The following prior art discussed below is also to be considered in relation into this invention: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,005,655, 4,273,048.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,317,256 involves a cluster of bombs dropped from an aircraft. A parachute is used to retard the descent of the container containing that cluster. The bomb is adapted to automatically and sequentially at predetermined intervals, release the bombs so as to drop these bombs over a wide area.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,874,639 involves a bomb which deploys a parachute and on deployment of that parachute ejects a package of cargo out of the nose section. This does not involve the dispersion of the cargo itself, which is the subject of the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,655 shows the use of an inflatable stabilizer/retarder to slow down the flight of a bomb. This involves a flexible, inflatable, conical shaped bag which is stored in the tail segment of the bomb for deployment where a high drag mode of operation for the weapon is required. It is also small in size and inexpensive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,048 shows a mine field clearance round where a parachute is deployed from the tail section to slow down and orient the same so as to face down.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,488 shows a parachute projection system for submunitions which are explosively projected through the ogive of a rocket over a tank containing area. The explosive projection created severe problems which U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,488 attempted to overcome, while retaining the explosive projection. The elimination of any explosive projection is one of the basic objectives of the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,498,393 shows the ejection of dispensing units from rockets or shells using parachutes to slow down these dispensing units. These subsequently further dispense a cargo of mines, bomblets or subsidiary projectiles in order to obtain the desired dispersion of this cargo of munitions. Here the ejection of these dispensing units is obtained by either strongly braking the dispensing units or instead braking the carrier, so as to eject the dispensing units whether through the tail or the nose section. This is not used to obtain dispersion. It is used to obtain the ejection and to prevent impact between the carrier and the dispensing units.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,971 shows the use of propellants to accelerate or decelerate a carrier projectile and to eject, side launch and disperse the contained cargo of submunitions from rifled tubes within the carrier projectile. It teaches the use of acceleration or deceleration to launch such submunitions, but depends on chemical propellants to achieve this. It further requires complex rifled tubing in order to obtain the desired objectives. It is the use of propellants and the complexity of such devices which the instant invention is designed to overcome.
All of the prior stated methods of producing ejection and satisfactory dispersion systems for their cargo of submunitions suffer in that most involve complex and costly designs, difficult to manufacture. Most use explosives, propellants, pyrotechnic or gas producing systems to expel the cargo and to provide tangential velocity so as to disperse the cargo.
Any energetic material has the potential of deteriorating in storage or handling such that it becomes inoperable. This is especially applicable where these energetic materials are chemical disperal systems and are subjected to higher temperatures, high humidity conditions such as would be found in the storage compartments of ships and in tropical areas, where these cluster bombs are frequently used. All energetic materials pose a degree of danger in storage, handling and in use on air-craft.
There has been a continuous desire to produce lower cost, easier to fabricate and safer to handle cluster bombs. Normally, the container main body of cluster bombs are fabricated from metal or plastic components and, therefore, cluster bombs can be manufactured competitively in a very large number of industrial organizations. Competition drives the cost down to a minimal amount. But, once energetic materials, such as propellants, explosives or pyrotective materials must be attached to that body or container, then the competition is effectively eliminated since only one or two special facilities in the locality can handle such energetic materials. Governmental restrictions severely limit the licenses given out to organizations authorized to handle explosives, propellants or pyrotechnic materials. These organizations need extra land and special facilities to store these energetic materials. Operators need special training and receive higher pay. Storage, handling and transportation requirements are severe and increase costs. There is always the potential of accidents with explosives, propellants or pyrotechnic materials. This forces special handling of loaded items. Even cluster bomb bodies containing small amounts of explosives require special handling and escort of police or similar protection during transportation, especially across bridges and through tunnels. All of these considerations cause a higher cost for energetically loaded cluster bomb bodies as compared to inert bodies which do not contain explosives or propellants.
Cost becomes an important consideration when extensive competition in international sales of cluster bombs occurs. Thus, companies in countries such as France, England, Israel and the United States compete for international sales of cluster bombs containing dual purpose, anti-tank, anti-personnel bomblets to countries which had conflicts with other countries and needed such cluster bombs for their defense. The result of these considerations has been that a need exists for cluster bombs, whose bodies could be manufactured without explosives, propellants or pyrotechnic materials so as to reduce the prior stated cost in transportation and manufacturing and to overcome safety problems. Similarly, complex designs could not be used since costs would be excessive.
It is consequently an objective of this invention to overcome the prior higher cost of fabrication of such bombs and the inherent safety problems that result from the energetic, propellant, pyrotechnic or explosive content used in some bombs to release the cargo of munitions. It is another objective of this invention to provide for a cluster bomb that does not require energetic materials to discharge and/or disperse the munitions, yet retaining the prior dispersion pattern of those cluster bombs, but thereby increasing the safety and reliability of such cluster bombs. It is further another objective of this invention to provide for a cluster bomb which is simpler in construction and therefore easier to manufacture than prior art bombs and yet able to disperse in a proper pattern a cargo of anti-tank, anti-personnel, dual purpose bomblets. Here, in fact, incendiary action has been added to result in a multi-purpose bomblet.
Consequently one object of this invention is to provide for a body or container for the submunition cargo that could be totally devoid of any energetic material during the manufacture and transportation thereof to the loading plant. This would provide for a much lower cost of fabrication, transportation and storage thereof. Lacking such energetic materials increased safety in manufacture, transportation and storage of such bodies or containers can take place. A further objective was to eliminate all explosives, propellant and pyrotechnic materials other than those normally contained in initiators, detonators or low energy detonating cord from the cluster bombs, since propellants and pyrotechnic material are deteriorated by higher temperature and higher humidity conditions, their elimination increases the high temperature and high humidity storage characteristics of the cluster bombs. Eliminating the larger amounts of all of these energetic and consequently hazardous marterials increases the safety in the use of the cluster bombs of this invention since malfunctioning would result in "failsafe" performance, rather than a more hazardous energetic event.
Yet, in spite of these advantages, which drive costs down and provide for a much safer to use cluster bomb, this invention provides a mechanism of retaining the dispersion or dispersal capability of the prior art, which is obtained in the prior art by complex and costly dispersal systems employing spin and energetic ejection systems. The present invention obtains the dispersion by ejecting the bomblets through the nose section, while the body or container is retarded and pulled away from the bomblets. The bomblets traveling at a high speed forward velocity upon entering the windstream can only be deflected outwardly as a result of their dense packing in the cluster bomb. This causes the bomblets to angle their direction off-axis with respect to the flight of the cluster bomb and to disperse, resulting in a dispersal pattern which is equivalent to that obtained by the prior art.
In the prior art, where spin and explosive dispersion was used, the load of bomblets were ejected sideways, while the axis was parallel with the cluster's longitudinal axis. This resulted in high drag forces to be exerted on the bomblets and reduced the side dispersion. In the present "forward projection mode" this is no longer the case and results in a dispersion equivalent to this prior art, but without the complexity.